Despite another summer movie having a great debut at the summer box office this past holiday weekend with Despicable Me 4, the movie season just isn’t hitting the same as last year. Why? Well, remember Barbenheimer? We don’t have one of those this season. There was something really special about the internet agreeing on the obscure double feature and turning out (and even dressing up) big time for it. So the idea of Gladiator 2 being part of its own special double feature with Wicked later this year not only has moviegoers excited, but also Gladiator 2 star Paul Mescal.
Last week, Universal decided to change Wicked’s date to open on the same release day as Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2, and thus “Wickediator” was born. Cinephiles have been taking to the internet to merge the two movies together in memes and such –much like what occurred with Barbie and Oppenheimer when their dates were revealed. In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Paul Mescal revealed his thoughts on the two movies opening on the same day:
Wickdiator doesn’t really roll off the tongue does it? I think my preference would probably be Glicked if it has a similar effect to what it did for Barbie and Oppenheimer. It would be amazing ’cause I think the films couldn’t be more polar opposites and it worked in that context previously. So fingers crossed people come out and see both films on opening weekend.
The actor shared he is totally game for the two upcoming 2024 movies to tag team in this fall’s grandest box office arena fight… as long as the name gets a change. While “Wickdiator” has seemed to be the more popular name for the double feature, Paul Mescal is Team Glicked! Mescal is hoping audiences will not only show out for Gladiator 2, but come to both movies, so bring on the next Barbenheimer.
His comments come as the first trailer for Gladiator 2 dropped this morning. You can check it out below:
The historical epic follows Ridley Scott’s Best Picture winner from 2000 that was led by Russell Crowe. Gladiator 2 has Paul Mescal playing Lucius, who was a child in the first film and nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus. As an adult, the former heir to the Roman Empire will be forced to fight as a Gladiator like Maximus did. The Gladiator 2 cast also includes Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger.
As Gladiator takes audiences to the world of the Romans, Wicked adapts the beloved Broadway musical that tells the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. The movie musical stars Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater and Bowen Yang. You can see both in theaters on November 22.